188 



TWENTY-NINTH FRUIT-GROWERS' CONVENTION. 



Do our roads lack for travel ? Over 46,000 tons of raisins and hun- 

 dreds of tons of hay, grain, fruit, and all kinds of produce are yearly- 

 hauled into the city of Fresno, all of which has given the city its phenom- 

 enal growth, and without all of this produce there would be no city. 



Do we lack for machinery to build our roads ? Examine the road 

 plow, graders, and elevators; you will find them marvels of ingenuity, 

 and a great improvement over anything used by road-makers a few 

 years ago. They are all up to date, and ought to make first-class roads. 



It is true that some, if not all of our roads are now in much better 

 condition than they were in the early settlement of the country. Sub- 

 stantial bridges have been built over most of the canals, and some of 

 the roads have been regularly plowed up every year, and during the 

 past summer, in some localities, they have been well oiled or sprinkled. 

 One objection to the present system of road-making is, that more work 

 is done in some localities than is really necessary, and a good many 

 well-traveled roads are wholly neglected. Generally, when residents 

 in a neglected district asked when their roads would get any work, the 

 reply was, "No more money. You will have to wait another year." 

 They waited, only to see the road plow start up again in the favored 

 locality. 



The editor of "Farm and Vineyard" in the "Fresno Republican" 

 says: "We have the worst roads in any civilized country." He 

 evidently had fallen into some of the chuckholes which are so numerous 

 on our roads, or perhaps he had stumbled over some of the garbage or 

 unpolished tinware which is so lavishly strewn on and along our 

 beautiful avenues. 



Good roads are a necessity. They save much valuable time to the 

 farmer, who wishes to get his produce to market as quickly as possible. 

 In this country they do not require great expense in building, and large 

 sums are appropriated every year to build and keep them in good 

 shape. Many of them would be greatly improved by filling up the 

 chuckholes and making them smoother. They greatty enhance the 

 value of the land in the country as well as in the city. It is more 

 necessary to have nice smooth roads than to have them plowed up so 

 often, for we do not alwaj^s find the smoothest roads where so much 

 plowing has been done. 



The new railway now being constructed across Great Salt Lake is an 

 example of how much railway companies value time in running their 

 trains. The San Francisco "Chronicle" in a recent article says: "Of 

 course the carrying out of such a stupendous undertaking will cost a 

 mint of money, but modern railway magnates do not count the cost 

 when time-savers are under consideration. Fifty million dollars will 

 unquestionably be required before the work" (of changing grades and 

 shortening distances) "is completed." All this work has been done to 



